I believe the woman who did the original voice of Murky sued Blizzard, trying to get a piece of WoW's profits. That would certainly explain the voice change. (I kind of like the new voice, so no harm, no foul, as far as I'm concerned.)

Update: Although his name could not initially be changed, as of Sept. 25, the name change took.

Although they've moved away from achievement pets for every 25 pets learned, it's nice to see Blizzard using pets as a carrot for things they want players to do. This pup is much better than Mr. Chilly (sorry, Chilly), who's pretty boring. This guy is as interesting as any pet in the game, and a definitely five-star one.

I'm not a BM hunter, but anyone with a core hound pet needs to have this one out full time.

There was a Feat of Strength for an Onyx Tiger put in at the same time as this one. No idea when or where we'll see it, though, alas. I had hoped this model would be a tamable (non-spirit beast) hunter pet one day, so this is as close as I'm likely to get.

I love this pet, but I hope that only the tabard remains the same for each Olympics, and we get a new, location-appropriate, pet each time. A moose or beaver for Canada? (We already have a polar bear, obviously.) Maybe a Canadian goose?